Summer Travel Grant 2019 Recipient
Yu-Chieh Wu
Graduate Degree Fellow
EdD in Educational Foundations

I attended The EdMedia+ Innovative Learning 2019 conference held by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education in Amsterdam, Netherlands from June 24 to June 28. This is the first time I presented the paper “Motivating English as a Foreign Language Teachers to Cultivate Intercultural Competence through an Online Course: An Instructional Design Project” abroad.

What I learned from this precious experience was being able to reflect on the role of technology in teaching. The keynote speaker kept mentioning the importance of information processing in this digital world. Specifically, that multiple processing results in better learning and retention. Therefore, students’ main goal in learning nowadays is not about searching, but about finding, evaluation and proper using. Teachers shouldn’t allow note-taking on a laptop but rather focus on teaching kids how to take notes, summarise and outline. After all, the medium is not the message, but the method. I also had the chance to see how teachers use “Zappar” and “Goosechase” in their classes. Overall, I really appreciated having the opportunities to expand my knowledge and experiences in the field of educational technology, and it definitely increased my confidence to pursue my academic career in the future.